Midpoint Deliverable
Introduction
Our group is interested in unemployment rates in the United States in the last decade and the effects that household income and state population have on this. Additionally, we are curious to see the role that geographical location plays. In this report we will be focusing on a dataset that provides statistics on rates of unemployment and the size of the civilian labor force in the United States from 2000 - 2019.
Summary
In order to provide a brief summary of the dataset a handful of averages over the years 2000 - 2019 were calculated. The average unemployment rate in the United States over this time period was 5.88. The average civilian labor force was 152857004. The average numbers of employed and unemployed individuals during these years were 143859167 and 8997836, respectively. Additionally, in the most recent year Alaska had the highest rate of unemployment, and New Hampshire had the lowest. This information was provided to give insight on which states performed the best and the worst in terms of unemployment rates in the most recent year.
Table
This table provides information on the unemployment rate in the United States for the past 5 years (2015-2019). The data was grouped by state to accomplish this. The table reveals a few interesting things. Firstly, it shows that from 2015 to 2019 nearly all states unemployment rates improved. Second, it reveals that Alaska had the highest rates of unemployment of any state during this time period. Lastly, it shows that Alabama’s unemployment rate in 2019 is less than half of what it was in 2015 (7.0735294 vs. 3.4397059).
| State | Unemployment Rate 2015 | Unemployment Rate 2016 | Unemployment Rate 2017 | Unemployment Rate 2018 | Unemployment Rate 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nebraska | 2.936170 | 2.989362 | 2.862766 | 2.856383 | 3.044681 |
| North Dakota | 3.314815 | 3.481482 | 2.979630 | 2.870370 | 2.775926 |
| New Hampshire | 3.363636 | 2.809091 | 2.654545 | 2.536364 | 2.518182 |
| South Dakota | 3.582090 | 3.444776 | 3.720896 | 3.568657 | 3.831343 |
| Hawaii | 3.800000 | 3.100000 | 2.500000 | 2.560000 | 2.800000 |
| Iowa | 3.800000 | 3.621000 | 3.101000 | 2.610000 | 2.711000 |
| Kansas | 3.971698 | 3.846226 | 3.379245 | 3.001887 | 2.977358 |
| Colorado | 4.076923 | 3.361538 | 2.800000 | 3.187692 | 2.843077 |
| Vermont | 4.200000 | 3.606667 | 3.313333 | 2.840000 | 2.686667 |
| Wyoming | 4.217391 | 5.091304 | 3.982609 | 3.747826 | 3.534783 |
| Montana | 4.298246 | 4.345614 | 4.110526 | 3.805263 | 3.577193 |
| Minnesota | 4.363636 | 4.603409 | 4.039773 | 3.569318 | 3.944318 |
| Idaho | 4.688889 | 4.308889 | 3.662222 | 3.373333 | 3.420000 |
| Texas | 4.780392 | 5.112549 | 4.486275 | 3.830588 | 3.513726 |
| Maine | 4.823529 | 4.182353 | 3.723529 | 3.547059 | 3.347059 |
| Indiana | 4.870968 | 4.466667 | 3.591398 | 3.494624 | 3.300000 |
| Utah | 4.900000 | 4.790000 | 4.246667 | 3.803333 | 3.323333 |
| Delaware | 5.000000 | 4.575000 | 4.575000 | 3.875000 | 3.875000 |
| Oklahoma | 5.012821 | 5.274359 | 4.385897 | 3.478205 | 3.455128 |
| Massachusetts | 5.066667 | 4.160000 | 4.026667 | 3.660000 | 3.220000 |
| Wisconsin | 5.081081 | 4.418919 | 3.594595 | 3.304054 | 3.745946 |
| Virginia | 5.134328 | 4.737313 | 4.199254 | 3.446269 | 3.194776 |
| Ohio | 5.359551 | 5.515730 | 5.265168 | 4.773034 | 4.477528 |
| Missouri | 5.491379 | 5.073276 | 4.094828 | 3.414655 | 3.657759 |
| Connecticut | 5.555556 | 5.022222 | 4.600000 | 4.044444 | 3.633333 |
| New York | 5.587302 | 5.111111 | 5.174603 | 4.496825 | 4.333333 |
| Rhode Island | 5.666667 | 4.900000 | 4.133333 | 3.716667 | 3.316667 |
| Maryland | 5.680000 | 4.968000 | 4.692000 | 4.352000 | 3.956000 |
| Pennsylvania | 5.691177 | 5.895588 | 5.192647 | 4.460294 | 4.695588 |
| Arkansas | 5.828947 | 4.600000 | 4.235526 | 4.153947 | 4.175000 |
| Florida | 5.897059 | 5.072059 | 4.445588 | 3.866176 | 3.472059 |
| Illinois | 6.116505 | 6.067961 | 5.092233 | 4.852427 | 4.420388 |
| New Jersey | 6.181818 | 5.318182 | 4.950000 | 4.395454 | 3.836364 |
| North Carolina | 6.435644 | 5.641584 | 4.897030 | 4.367327 | 4.274257 |
| Oregon | 6.459460 | 5.508108 | 4.772973 | 4.662162 | 4.378378 |
| Kentucky | 6.545454 | 6.499174 | 6.030578 | 5.190909 | 5.076860 |
| Michigan | 6.547619 | 6.007143 | 5.823810 | 5.121429 | 4.951191 |
| Tennessee | 6.666667 | 5.540625 | 4.377083 | 4.073958 | 3.982292 |
| Nevada | 6.777778 | 5.694444 | 4.683333 | 4.177778 | 3.672222 |
| Georgia | 6.818750 | 6.065625 | 5.251250 | 4.432500 | 3.901250 |
| Washington | 7.025000 | 6.575000 | 5.862500 | 5.727500 | 5.642500 |
| South Carolina | 7.042553 | 5.865957 | 4.961702 | 3.997872 | 3.334043 |
| Alabama | 7.073529 | 6.645588 | 5.041176 | 4.405882 | 3.439706 |
| New Mexico | 7.117647 | 7.008824 | 6.220588 | 5.264706 | 5.273529 |
| Louisiana | 7.400000 | 6.986154 | 5.870769 | 5.561539 | 5.578462 |
| California | 7.610169 | 6.905085 | 6.020339 | 5.327119 | 5.079661 |
| Mississippi | 7.626506 | 6.833735 | 6.001205 | 5.626506 | 6.340964 |
| West Virginia | 7.818182 | 7.103636 | 5.952727 | 5.825455 | 5.758182 |
| Arizona | 8.625000 | 7.500000 | 6.612500 | 6.443750 | 6.337500 |
| Alaska | 9.633333 | 9.290000 | 8.970000 | 8.433333 | 8.246667 |
Chart 1
Chart #1 displays the most recent information available regarding states’ unemployment rates. From this chart, the viewer can understand which states are currently struggling with unemployment. Based on the lengths and positions of the bars compared to the other bars, the viewer can see how much some states are plagued by unemployment compared to the others. This will allow viewers to comprehend which states need the most aid and by how significant of a margin. This chart reveals that the vast majority of states had unemployment rates under 5% in 2019. Additionally, it shows that every state had unemployment rates that were above 2%.Chart 2
Chart #2 displays the 5 states with the lowest number of unemployed individuals in the most recent year (2019). This chart allows the viewer to see both a quantitative and visual representation of the number of unemployed individuals in each state. This makes the difference in the amount of peopled who are unemployed in each state more clear. Additionally, it shows that in this small number of states there is a lot of variety in the number of unemployed individuals.